Sputnik's Child

Sputnik's Child book

This engaging novel recalls the events that shaped the ideas and lives of the baby boom generation and laid the groundwork for an age of technology and its challenges.

The launch of Sputnik in October 1957, at the height of the baby boom, put in motion events that would give rise to an age of technology and fundamentally alter society and faith. Jackie is Sputnik’s Child, and her story is that of a generation that came of age through the turbulence of the 1960s, the Age of Aquarius, an era of social malaise, and the “Me” Decade to experience an age of irrational exuberance. This is the story of those who were influenced by race riots, the Vietnam War, and Woodstock, those inspired by astronauts reading Genesis as they orbited the Moon and walked on its surface for the first time, the drama of Apollo 13, the promise of Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger, and those who were impacted by the rapid emergence of technology. Sputnik’s Child is an engaging and thought-provoking novel in the tradition of Leon Uris, James Michener, and Herman Wouk, chronicling the lives of familiar characters against the sweep of history. Through Jackie, her friends, and their experiences, readers will experience the events that guided the baby boom generation and gave rise to an age of technology. This is a story for those who have faith that science and technology will improve the quality of their lives or provide cures for their afflictions. It is also a story that will resonate with those for whom the promise of technology remains unfulfilled and question whether the potential of technology truly justifies their faith.

Jackie is Sputnik’s Child, born on October 4, 1957, the day that a human satellite first escaped the gravity of Earth for the heavens. This is her story, and a history of the baby boom generation, forged in an Age of Aquarius, which found faith in the promise of technologies powerful enough to transport men to the Moon and picture the Earth as it might appear to God. Jackie and her friends come of age amidst the turbulence of the 1960s, frightened by race riots, civil defense drills, terrorism, and the Vietnam War. They find ideas that will guide them through adulthood in the civil rights movement, the spirit of Woodstock, family traditions, and the conquest of space. For Jackie, the image of astronauts orbiting and walking on the Moon gives her confidence that the frightful problems on Earth can be solved. As her faith and friendships mature through an era of social malaise, the “Me” Decade, and a time of irrational exuberance, she achieves personal and professional success communicating the promise of the emerging age of technology. But when her daughter is diagnosed with a disease that has no known cause or cure, Jackie is confronted with a crisis of faith.